O'Connell's request amounts to a $279,000 increase over last year, bringing to $9.6 million, or 12.3 percent, the county's share of the $78 million budget. State statute requires that community colleges be funded 1/3 each by the state, the locality sponsoring the college and tuition, a formula that has never been met.

Onondaga County did not increase its funding last year, which covered 12 percent of the college's operating budget. Onondaga County ranks among the lowest operating budget-funders in the state - 28th of 30 locality sponsors, O'Connell said.

Ways and Means members had no questions today for OCC representatives. At a joint meeting June 3 with the facilities committee, Legislator Casey Jordan, R-Clay, questioned O'Connell about the costs of educating students at OCC, and asked why students' tuition should not cover more of the cost.

The annual per-student cost for some academic programs, such as nursing, can be substantially higher than the average $8,000 a year, but most of those higher costs are covered by higher fees, said O'Connell said June 3.

"It appears that essentially county taxpayers are subsidizing students' education at OCC," Jordan said. "I don't see why we're subsidizing and in some ways enticing out-of-county and out-of-state students to come to OCC. I don't see that there's a benefit to the community to doing that. The odds are astronomically against our kids staying in the area."

O'Connell noted that the overwhelming majority of students - 87 percent - are from Onondaga County, and that most students transfer to colleges within an hour's driving distance.

"They are staying in this area," she said.

While the county's share of funding is low for the operating budget, O'Connell said, the county has been generous helping to fund capital improvements in the last decade, financing nearly $100 million in construction.